Women's Basketball: UNM could make history with fifth straight conference win

The New Mexico women's basketball team will look to make it five straight conference wins on Wednesday, making it a tie for the best start in the program’s history.

UNLV (11-5, 2-2 MW) will likely be a tough task, though. The team is 5-1 at home this season, most recently pulling out a 55-53 overtime victory over Utah State, a team that played the Lobos tough last week.

But the Lady Rebels will be short-handed against the Lobos on Wednesday evening, with two players being suspended for a fight that broke out in the Utah State game – it left UNLV with just six players left to play in their overtime win.

The incident started with UNLV’s Katie Powell and Utah State’s Antoina Robinson got into a physical altercation near the end of the third quarter. A fight broke out with players leaving the bench on both teams as referees and coaches worked quickly to regain control.

After the incident, a total of eight players were ejected (four from each team) and the Mountain West conference issued three suspensions afterward.

UNLV sophomore Paris Strawther was hit with a one-game suspension for her role in the brawl, keeping her and Powell out of action in the upcoming home game against New Mexico (8-6, 4-0 MW). Utah State’s Robinson will also sit out one game.

Both Powell and Strawther were effective in scoring and rebounding for the Lady Rebels, too. Powell has averaged 7.8 points and 6.1 rebounds per game, while Strawther has put up 9.2 points and 6.3 rebounds.

Without Powell and Strawther, the Lobo will benefit from a significant size advantage, something they will likely try to exploit.

The Lady Rebels will also be without sophomore Jordyn Bell who is in concussion protocol after a hard hit to the head at Boise State on Jan. 4.

UNM sophomore Emily Lines will be inactive against UNLV, while Alex Lapeyrolerie is set to make her return after a hit to the head knocked her out in a home game against San Diego State.

Lines injured her right knee in practice last week and is set to have an MRI, according to Ken Sickenger of the Albuquerque Journal.

Junior Cherise Beynon has emerged the leader for the Lobos recently in conference play. She has averaged 16.6 points per game so far this season, which ranks second in the Mountain West. She's also second in the conference in assists per game (7.2) and steals per game (2.1).

But the junior guard has started to heat up, especially since the start of conference play. In each of the Lobos’ four Mountain West games, she's put up at least 20 points.

The Lobos have been scoring at a more efficient pace than the Lady Rebels, boasting 71.2 points per game compared to 62.1 for UNLV.

New Mexico has a significant margin in term of rebounding as well. UNM has averaged nearly seven more boards per game than UNLV, something that has been usually translated to wins.

Schedule Change: According to GoLobos.com, the women's basketball team will be adding a non-conference home game to their schedule on Jan. 29, picking up a match against Northern New Mexico on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m.

The UNLV game will be streamed live on the Mountain West Network Wednesday, Jan. 11 at 7 p.m.

Matthew Narvaiz is a sports reporter for the Daily Lobo. He primarily covers women's basketball. He can be reached at sports@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @matt_narvaiz